Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Illegal or not—immigrants are real Americans

The November presidential election was a wakeup call for the
Republican party. For years, a number of GOP demagogues pandered to the
xenophobes in their party by whacking the Latino community like a piñata under
the guise of resisting illegal immigration. But after the overwhelming support
for Barrack Obama among Latino voters, Republican leaders now realize the Latino
bashing party is over. Not surprisingly, two senior GOP senators have proposed
an act of contrition. They call it the Achieve Act, which many see as a
watered-down version of the DREAM Act.

This is all good news. But the struggle to achieve
immigration reform is far from over. Nativist organizations like ALIPAC, FAIR
and others promise to fight like never before against what they call “amnesty.”
Inevitably, in resisting efforts to bring the undocumented out of the shadows,
these chauvinistic organizations denigrate into attacks on all Latinos. Speaking
about conditions in California schools, comedian and FOX News commentator Adam
Corrolla recently said: “schools are ruined — not because they’re out of money,
but because we’re flooded with Mexicans, and they’re not into studying.” We can
expect a surge of toxic rhetoric like this as immigration reform comes closer
to reality.

Although news headlines depict this apparent culture clash,
the upheaval we are seeing today is part of a larger pattern. For centuries
people have come to this land with dreams of a better life. Their arrival has
invariably been met with resistance. Eventually, their foreignness becomes
familiar and they are welcomed into the fold, usually to be replaced by the
next wave of newcomers who endure a similar fate.

"The first illegal immigrants in Texas came from Tennessee. Most of these Anglo squatters settled in the Mexican province of Tejas without any legal rights."

Many say today’s wave of immigrants is different. They
arrived here illegally. In truth, the world is not so simple. The first illegal
immigrants in Texas came from Tennessee. Most of these Anglo squatters settled
in the Mexican province of Tejas without any legal rights. Today, Texas is one
of the most prosperous regions in the world and their legal indiscretions are
long forgotten.

At its core, the current migration from south to north on
our continent is easy to understand. The U.S. has the jobs. Mexico and Latin
America have the labor. The economic gravity at work in this dynamic is as
powerful as the tides—and just as irresistible.

Above all else, being American is an attitude. It is an
affirmation of hope, the dream that sweat and energy can create a better life.
No ethnic group can lay claim to that ideal. Nor is it limited to a single
language. It’s time to recognize all
of today’s immigrants for what they really are: the latest wave of Americans.

My novels in brief

America Libre,House Dividedand Pancho Land imagine a nightmarish, not-too-distant future when tensions between Hispanic separatists and Anglo supremacists ignite an ethnic conflict that leads to an armed insurrection seeking to redraw the borders of the United States. A cautionary tale, The Class H Trilogy is a wake-up call to the dangers of bigotry and extremism in a growing ethnic gulf.

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Could it happen here?

When I began writing America Libre in 2004, some thought the book’s premise was unrealistic. An uprising by Hispanics? The idea seemed far-fetched, they said. Today, the skeptics are no longer so certain. I posed the nightmare scenario of America Libre as a wake up call to the dangers of extremism - on all sides of this explosive issue. Hispanic immigration is a hotly debated topic today. Yet it is only the tip of the iceberg. Over the next decade, three other factors will prove equally significant. READ MORE